Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as crib death, is the sudden unexplained death of a child less than one year of age. SIDS usually occurs during sleep and is currently believed to be associated with respiratory issues. Typically, infant death occurs between the hours of 00:00 and 09:00 with no noise detected. SIDS was the third leading cause of death in children less than one year old in the United States in 2011. About 90% of cases happen before six months of age, with it being most frequent between two months and four months of age.
Conventional approaches to detecting an infant respiratory problem in real time require physical attachment of devices to the infant, or have difficult coping with background noise within the infant's environment. A more robust system for infant respiratory monitoring is therefore needed.
Digital cameras are often included in infant monitoring systems, for example installed in a nursery. Such systems typically relay video data, or audio/video (A/V) data, from the camera to a remote display screen. Allowing a caregiver to visualize the infant, for example during a daytime napping period. Such systems are however relatively unsophisticated, lacking significant image analysis capability.